Does Anyone Remember When the Roman Catholic Church Used to Oppose Abortion?

If only the Roman Catholic Church had a leader who could confront the White House over dismembering babies and trafficking their organs.

The Roman Catholic Church was once the pillar of anti-abortion advocacy. What happened to that? Here is the headline from Bloomberg: “Obama to Bask in Pope’s Aura, But Francis Wants Planned Parenthood Defunded.”

The pope wouldn’t recognize “Economic Justice” if it confiscated one of his palaces.

When Pope Francis meets Barack Obama at the White House on Wednesday, the president will bask in his guest’s moral authority and iconic popularity. But the first pontiff from Latin America is likely to exploit those assets to pressure his host on U.S. global economic leadership.

On Francis’s first full day in the country, Obama and as many as 15,000 guests will welcome him on the South Lawn of the White House. For the president, it’s an opportunity to showcase the pope’s support for his initiatives on income inequality, immigration and climate change.

“These are issues that are going to define our future, and the pope I think is providing an incredible sense of motivation that they can and must be addressed,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said in a conference call with reporters. “The pope’s voice could not be more timely and important.”

Contentious issues involving Church doctrine on the family — such as abortion rights and contraception coverage – will be swept under the carpet of the Oval Office. But the pope, who called for “a poor Church for the poor” on his election, is expected to elevate his concern for the downtrodden and the excluded for a global audience.

And he is going to let the bishops know they must be good Leftist troops and stop making such a big deal about abortion and marriage.

Earlier in the day, Francis will speak to approximately 300 U.S. Catholic bishops at a prayer service at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, known to many Americans as the site of President John F. Kennedy’s funeral Mass.

Those remarks are significant, as it is the church’s U.S. hierarchy that is responsible for follow-through on Francis’s priorities through Sunday sermons, religious education programs, Catholic school curricula and parish activities, said Father Tom Reese, a Jesuit priest and a senior analyst for the National Catholic Reporter.

“The bishops in the United States over the past 10 years have tended to focus on abortion, gay marriage and this religious freedom issue. He wants them to move in a different direction,” Reese said. “He’s not going to succeed unless the rest of the church gets behind him, particularly the bishops and the priests.”

Since I am not Roman Catholic, I guess I have no right to feel personally betrayed. But I can’t help it. I grew up with a Pope who was an anti-communist hero. This guy is a horrible successor.